International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

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Is Deep-Seabed Mining Compatible with the Human Right to a Healthy Environment? Insights from the ICJ and IACtHR Climate Change Advisory Opinions

June 1, 2026

In 2025, following the 2024 advisory opinion (AO) of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Climate Change (here), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued their AOs on Climate Change (here and here, respectively). These historic AOs have generated extensive commentary. This blog shifts focus from the climate change realm by extracting the ICJ and IACtHR’s findings on the Human Right to a Clean Healthy and Sustainable Environment (HRHE) and applying them in the context of an extractive industry that has the potential to cause significant harm to the marine environment: deep-seabed mining (DSM).

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Some Preliminary Thoughts on Ghana’s Announced Recourse to 1982 LOSC Arbitration in the Maritime Boundary Dispute with Togo

March 4, 2026

On 20 February 2026, Ghana, in a press release, formally notified the Government of Togo of its decision to submit their unresolved maritime boundary dispute to arbitration under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (henceforth: 1982 LOSC). After the lapse of almost a decade during which negotiations, joint technical committees and high-level…

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The Empire Strikes Back: Russia’s Procedural Offensive Before International Courts and Tribunals

January 30, 2026

In the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, Ukraine and its allies turned to international adjudication with remarkable speed and intensity. This early legal mobilisation enabled Ukraine to seize the legal narrative surrounding the conflict, ‘using its smart-power assets in a case where there’s a hard-power disadvantage and the rule of law is…

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Systemic Integration and Space Law After the Climate Advisory Opinions

December 30, 2025

This post draws on the work of the International Institute for Space Law (IISL) Working Group on Pluralistic Governance and International Space Law (Chair, Elena Cirkovic). The 2024–2025 climate advisory opinions confirm that neither specialised treaties nor voluntary frameworks can displace customary environmental obligations or operate in isolation from general international law. The opinions reinforce the…

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Reclaiming Authority: Forcing Seabed Mining Contractors to Choose between the ISA and the USA

December 9, 2025

Vouloir le beurre et l'argent du beurre Aspiring Canadian mining firm, The Metals Company, Inc. (TMC), through its wholly-owned subsidiaries (p. 10) Nauru Ocean Resources, Inc. (NORI), Tonga Offshore Mining, Ltd. (TOML), and The Metals Company USA, LLC (TMC USA) (together, the TMC Group), is pursuing two incompatible avenues to access and exploit polymetallic nodules…

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